US, Japan warn against N Korea missile launch

A military parade in honour of the 100th birthday of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang this year.
Photo: AFP

The United States has urged North Korea to scrap plans to launch a rocket later this month, warning the “highly provocative" move would destabilise the region.

“Devoting scarce resources to the development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles will only further isolate and impoverish North Korea," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement on Saturday.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda postponed talks with senior North Korean diplomats due in Beijing on December 5-6. The meeting was to follow rare talks in Mongolia in mid-November, which had marked the first senior-level meeting between the two nations in four years.

The comments came after Pyongyang announced it would conduct between December 10 and 22 its second long-range rocket launch this year following a much-hyped but failed attempt in April.

As in April, the North said it would be a purely “peaceful, scientific" mission aimed at placing a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite into orbit.

The announcement was certain to ratchet up tensions with South Korea, which is just days from a presidential election.

The US and its allies insist the launches are disguised tests for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

As such, they would contravene UN resolutions triggered by Pyongyang’s two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

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“A North Korean ‘satellite’ launch would be a highly provocative act that threatens peace and security in the region," Nuland said.

“We call on North Korea to comply fully with its obligations under all relevant UNSCRs," she added, referring to UN Security Council resolutions.

Washington and its allies say the North’s Unha-3 rocket is actually a three-stage variant of the Taepodong-2 ICBM that Pyongyang has been developing for years but has never tested successfully.

“The path to security for North Korea lies in investing in its people and abiding by its commitments and international obligations," Nuland added.

She said Washington was “consulting closely" with its allies on a response.

Japanese Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto issued an order to the Self-Defence Forces to prepare for destroying North Korea's rocket if necessary in case of its launch, reported the agency.

"I have determined it will be difficult to hold the meeting from a comprehensive standpoint, and I informed the other party of my postponement decision," Kyoda quoted Noda as saying.

His comments came after a meeting of relevant ministers, attended by Morimoto, Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura convened to discuss how to deal with the issue, Kyodo said.

"It will be quite regrettable if the launch is carried out. The international society, including Japan, will have to respond to it in a decisive manner," Kyodo reported Noda as saying.

Japan said it would work closely with the United States, South Korea and China to dissuade North Korea from going ahead with the launch, Jiji Press news agency had earlier reported, quoting government officials.